Survivor Tells Of ‘Turbulence’ Before Pakistan Plane Crash

One of the two survivors of the Pakistan plane crash said the flight had proceeded normally until its descent, when there was a sudden jolt.

Passenger Mohammad Zubair said the pilot had warned that the landing in Karachi would be “troublesome” and the plane jolted violently, which he thought was turbulence.

Moments later, it slammed into a crowded neighbourhood on the edge of the international airport.

Authorities said Friday’s crash killed 97 people, all of them passengers and crew members.

The Pakistan International Airlines flight was carrying people returning home for Eid al-Fitr, a major holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Provincial health department spokeswoman Meeran Yousaf said only 19 bodies have been identified so far and that most of the victims were badly burned.

Eight people on the ground were injured, including four who are still in hospital, and all residents are accounted for, she said.

The plane crashed near Jinnah International Airport, in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony. PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafiz Khan said the aircraft destroyed or heavily damaged 18 homes.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A230 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members. The only other survivor of the crash was Zafar Masood, a bank executive.

In a telephone interview from his hospital bed, Mr Zubair, a mechanical engineer, said flight PK8308 had taken off on time from the eastern city of Lahore at 1pm local time. It was a smooth, uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent shortly before 3pm.

“Suddenly the plane jerked violently, once and then again,” he said.